Affiliations

Jeannie Ureno - Pyrography - November 2012

Pyrography

TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

Woodturner unit

Tips / nibs

Ruler - for straight lines and measuring

Compass - circles

Pencil and sharpener

Needle nose pliers, to help take nibs off

Eraser

Tape

Tracing paper / graphite paper - to transfer your design, use tape to hold your design in place when transferring. Use a red or blue pen to trace with. This way you will know where to start and stop on your transfer. BUT do not push too hard or you will dent your wood.

WOOD

Try to use light color wood to show off the burning.

Holly - nice light color wood, easy to burn

Birch

Sycamore

Maple

BURNING UNIT

Research and ﬁnd a unit that will ﬁt your needs. If you only plan to sign your work then get a basic model from local craft store.

NIBS / TIPS

Cleaning - sand paper, but use ﬁne and be careful not to over sand.

Honing stick or block

Emory cloth

Steel wool , ﬁne

Aluminum oxide

Razor blade, to scrape off build up on the nib

PRO ( P ) Con ( C )

Hot wire nibs

Solid point nibs

P - heat fast

P - cheaper cost

P - cools quickly

C - screw in nibs take longer to cool down To switch tips

P - smaller tips

C - takes longer to heat up

P - lighter weight.

P - easy to handle

C - tips can break easily

C - expensive

COLORING Use color after you burn, the burn lines will act as a border for the color so it does not bleed. Go light to dark, You will not be able to lighten any color once it is absorbed into the wood.

Alcohol base dye

Alcohol , use to thin your color

Brushes

Paper towels - for blotting brush

SELECTING THE RIGHT NIB

SKEW: ( looks like razor )

Use for lines:

Fine , crisp lines

Good for straight lines, edging

Good for cross hatching, for shading

When using a skew, keep clean and sharp ( Honed ),

Pull towards you - do not push away from you.

When turning, you will need to guide your board in the

Opposite direction you are turning so your nib continues

to pull toward you.

WRITER: Like a pencil ( my favorite tip to use )

Use for signatures, ﬂoats like a pencil, travels in any direction.

Different sizes - ﬁne lines to heavy lines.

Lines - crosshatching for shading, texture

Stippling - time consuming, good for shading, texture

.

SHADER:

Good for ﬁlling in background, blacked areas, gives depth.

Good for large areas.

SPOON

Shader is good for soft shading.

When using a shader, use a sweeping motion, lifting off and upward.

PENS:They get very hot to hold when you burn at a high temperature.You can use pen grips to help control the heat. They also give cushion / comfort when holding the pen. They come in a few styles, you will have to ﬁnd the ones that best ﬁt your pen style and your comfort.

WHEN BURNING:You can use a fan to PULL AWAY the smoke as you burn. Do not position the fan to blow at the pen, this will cause the smoke to blow on you and cool your tip as you are trying to burn causing it to burn inconsistently.

Choose unﬁnished wood to burn on. If you burn on ﬁnished wood it will cause more smoke and possibly toxic fumes. It also does not burn as easily when there is a ﬁnish on it because you are ﬁrst trying to burn through the finish.

FINISHES:When you are done burning, you can then choose to color your piece or not,Then ﬁnish it. You may ﬁrst want to take a light sanding to the piece to Smooth any roughness before applying your favorite ﬁnish you normally use.